Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Top 15 Pitchers: #4 Alex Colome

The nephew of former Rays reliever Jesus Colome, Alex certainly got the family fastball velocity genes. With an arm as live as any in the system, Colome's stuff overpowered New York-Penn League hitters, allowing 14 earned runs over 15 starts with the Hudson Valley Renegades in 2008.

His season statline is as dominant as they come: 76 innings, 46 hits, 14 earned runs, 0 home runs, 32 walks, and 94 strikeouts. The walks were the key to the breakout season, since he showed the same kind of stuff with Princeton in 2008 but struggled to find the plate, walking over 5 batters per 9 innings. It's hard to find a bone to pick with his 2009 season, though. His control was still somewhat inconsistent, marked by three starts with four or five walks. But he also showed the ability to completely control a game, evidenced by three starts of 0 earned runs allowed and nine strikeouts.

The ball explodes out of Colome's hand, and he's been able to creep into the upper-90s with it, sitting in the 93-95 range. It has some life on it, too, which allowed him to post a GO/AO of 1.57 in 2009. His primary off-speed pitch is a hard curveball which has flashed the potential of a plus pitch. He's still refining his change-up, a weapon he didn't need very often in the NY-P league. He improved his control in 2009, but he's still part "thrower" and part "pitcher." He'll need to work on his command within the strike zone, although his velocity lets him get away with some mistakes.

He's several years away, but Colome has the makings of a potential ace. His current stuff is already electric, and his build and loose arm offer projection still. He'll look to take another step forward with his control and command in 2010 with Bowling Green, where he'll replace Matt Moore as the ace of the Hot Rods' rotation. I think there are some similarities between those two pitchers: Both had high strikeout rates(Moore's are higher) and both improved their control in their second (state-side) season(Moore from 7.1 to 3.1, Colome from 5.1 to 3.8, and on a coincidental note, each had 1.66 ERAs in their second pro seasons). Moore needed some time to adjust with Bowling Green, it'll be interesting to see if the same happens with Colome.

2 comments:

Early in the season, he did not have anythiing but speed on his pitches. He was removed from a game due to the number of batters struck. He matured greatly over the season and is a true prospect for the Rays as he gains better and better control.